Hoop du jour, from glue guys to Gibbs

GLUE GUYS: The three recruited walk-ons at Rutgers, Jersey boys Frank Mitchell (Hillsborough), Mike Kuhn (CBA) and Charlie Rigoglioso (Wayne Valley), are pitching in behind the scenes to the Scarlet Knights’ success. Here’s their story: Trio of “underdogs” having an impact

CLEMSON 64, SETON HALL 58: The Pirates continued to play good D, holding Clemson to 29 percent shooting, but couldn’t overcome their own 2-for-21 nightmare from 3-point range. Doesn’t help that the four forwards on the roster shot a combined 0-for-9 from beyond the arc. No wonder they only had six offensive boards.

So is Paradise lost for the Pirates? Not necessarily. Getting over Jeremy Hazell’s injury was going to take some time as the players figure out who to run the offense through and who’s going to step up and lead. A week of practice should help sort things out.

GIBBS HONORED: Congrats to Scotch Plains product Ashton Gibbs for being named Big Big East Player of the Week. The Pitt junior is averaging 19 points and 4 assists and shooting 47 percent from 3-point range. We knew Ashton would be a good collegian, but not this good.

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About Jerry Carino

Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.

I am a bit disappointed in the results of this season so far. If a team like this isnt ready to bring their best effort to winning these games then there is a problem.

It was mentioned by one of the television annoucers during the game and I have to agree, he doesnt understand how this team cant play good offense just because their best scorer is hurt. To him this doesnt sound like a team that can go to far.

Good teams have second and third scoring options. Good teams have answers for when the opposition doubles and triple teams the team’s leading scorer(s), so he doesnt understand why the other players didnt step up. It showed that these players were depending too much on Hazell.

Remember in basketball players do get hurt and most important, players only have 5 fouls to give before they are not allowed to play further.

The other point which was brought up was the fact that Jeff Robinson and Herb Pope both made the attempt to go to the NBA. They may look to do that again at the end of this season. If these guys can’t step up their games in College Basketball, and if they can’t show leadership, what makes them think the would be desirable for the NBA Draft.

If the Seton Hall Offense continues to be predicated on what Jeremy Hazell does then we better be prepared to see an 11th place finish in the Big East Schedule of this season. From seeing most of the rest of the Big East teams play Seton Hall will have a lot to worry about

You agree with those announcers? They didn’t even know player names. Great source you get your insight from. Everyone knew coming in that we’d be leaning on Hazell. Once he gets hurt, and you have a team missing a bunch of chippies, that’s not on Willard. If they were chucking all over the place, I’d be much more upset. We’re getting the looks, very few are burying them.

Willard’s teams statistically are terrible offensively and very good defensively. Granted the sample size is small because he hasn’t been a coach for very long, but fans should not be surprised by the offense, or lack thereof.

Right now we are actually top 60 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, which is pretty good. I think people need to temper their expectations of this team and realize we are not nearly as good as many fans believe.

I think we win 17-18 games overall and 8-9 games in conference. With a strong showing in the BET, we should be right on the bubble. If they can manage 19 wins (a win or two in the BET), I think we can get a bid with the schedule we had this season.

I don’t think this is about Willard. He got dealt a bad break here with Hazell. It’s about leadership among the players and who will step up to hold things together until Hazell returns. It’s a test of character for the upperclassmen. Now that the initial shock of losing Hazell has passed, let’s see how they respond. My money would be on Theodore, but he’s only a junior and sometimes it’s tough for a junior to take the reins when you have talented seniors in the lineup.

One of those announcers (looney) has more of a background in Basketball then you do. I guess you werent listening to their broadcast considering they didnt have a problem with names.

If you really listened to their broadcast you would have learn that they were giving more credit to Seton Hall then what was called for during the 2 for 27 3-point disaster last night.

And if you were listening to the pre season hype the image coming out of the basketball program was that it wasnt just Hazell but Jeff Robinson, Herb Pope, and Jordan Theodore. So to see that the players were not telling the truth when they said that Seton Hall’s Offense this year is more then Hazell

I think its very important to remember that not only is this team just getting over the shock of losing Hazell for a few weeks but they are also trying to get Herb Pope back into full game shape since he nearly died. Sure last season he had a good amount of the points but he’s still not true to form either. It’s only 5 games into the season and those are two major adjustments. Jeff Robinson should be stepping it up I’ll agree with you there.

I’m just happy to see the team actually playing defense. Its a long road to March and let’s just support our team. The next few games will be key to seeing how the team adjusts. They have to start hitting stride soon though if they want to have post-season hope.

I just don’t think this team is nearly as good as people (mainly SHU fans) think.

However, a good coach should be able to take this group to the tournament. If at the end of the season we are left out of the big dance then there is some cause for concern. Until then, I remain optimistic that Willard has a plan and things will fall into place with a little more practice.

Fans really need to hold off judgement until the end of the year. By then we will have a feel of what kind of coach we have.

I’m just happy to see the team actually playing defense. Its a long road to March and let’s just support our team. The next few games will be key to seeing how the team adjusts.

I agree about the defense. It is refreshing to see. We should win the next 7 games and I won’t be on cloud 9 if we do. The real test will be the Big East. If we can manage 9-9 in conference I will be pleased, anything more is gravy in my opinion.

I just got back from the Paradise Jam and have a few things to say and 1 very serious question I’d like you, Jerry, to answer (if you’re able)

1) Why does Keon get serious min’s?

Truly, I can’t understand this. I can’t emphasise enough how painful it was to watch him (his entire SHU career) in St. Thomas. Yet Willard kept playing him. I

I get it, Hazell is out, but either EP or Fu (who I believe will be very, very good) would have been the obvious choice for the min’s that Keon saw.

Bottom line is that he is a turnover machine and I just can’t wrap my head around why he gets serious min’s. This is not a defensive pos that you want him in for (I can dig on that) this is having him run the point! I’m getting upset just thinking about it (again) so I’ll stop.

Like I said, I think Fu will be a very good player – even this year. I see in Fu what I saw in Hazells first year and Brian Laings first year… he’s smart, he’s athletic and he has the body for the BE.

2) Theo needs to step up and lead this team w/o Hazell. Period.

3) Willard getting a “T” with very little time remaining down 3 sealed the loss for us. I was sitting right behind Hobbs who looked less than thrilled that Bobby, I mean Willard, acted in that way (not that I’m excusing it, but the refs were TERRIBLE… truly, horrible).

My hypothesis on Keon is twofold: 1) He was a productive scorer at Mizzou and the coaches think they can bring that player back out again; 2) He looks terrific in practice but can’t translate it to the games. One or both of those things are driving his minutes because his performance in games clearly is not. That said, Willard is a defense-first guy and Lawrence’s defense might be further along in his mind that Edwin or Polynice.

I totally agree that it falls to Theodore to pick up the leaderhip mantle. I just don’t see it coming from anywhere else, although perhaps Robinson could be the guy. Maybe Jordan defers to his elders but from talking to him and watching him play in HS I know he has the qualities. It’s time for him to grab the reins.

Willard does not have a history of Ts so I would consider the Clemson incident an abberation.

I really appreciate your response… and suppose it’s really the only logical explanation…

However, most of the big-time defensive stops Keon has made (or blocks) occur in the same sequence when he turned the ball over! Sure, he’s good at big-time stops – but they would never need to occur if he didn’t turn the ball over so much.

Do you know if SHU employs a sports psychologist? Or simply a psychologist? If he’s good in practice and if he was good as Mizzu, perhaps you’re right that he has the ability, but can’t make it happen with us (for a myriad of reasons)… I realize that it’s comparing apples and cans of paint, but I know that A-rod worked with a psychologist in the offseason (2008 – 2009) and it seemed to work wonders… just a thought.

By the way, JRob absolutely destroyed a Clemson kid with a pick midway through the 2nd half of the game. Awesome to see such physical play. It was like an open-ice hit. I spoke with him for a few moments after the game and the kid is an absolute tank. I really can’t understand why he doesn’t get a little more physical down low.

As for Willard, I’m certain that the non-stop garbage calls by the ref absolutely infuriated him, but these are precisely the type of moments that we need him to avoid for the teams sake. For one, these kids need someone to look to who is a paragon of class. Two, the game was on the line… Sure, JJ was hobbled (any word on that, by the way?) , but he hit a 3 not long before, and that T really put it out of reach and absolutely deflated the SHU fans.

Finally, the SHU fans were easily the largest in number and loudest of any of the teams (with Xavier a close 2nd). The booster club folks are very nice, but they need to be told they are not in a library. I hung out with a girl from Alabama who said, “You guys really travel well” – to which I replied, “Sweet home, South Orange”.

About this Blog

Since its launch in 2006, Hoops Haven has become a staple of the New Jersey basketball community. This is the place to find breaking news, analysis and links about college and high school basketball in the Garden State.

About the Author

Jerry Carino has covered sports for the Gannett New Jersey newspapers since 1996 and has been on the college basketball beat since 2003. A native of Old Bridge, he also teaches journalism at Kean University.Email Jerry.